Trailblazing activist and writer Eve Zaremba died peacefully, with the assistance of MAID, at home on October 8, 2025 lovingly held by her wife Ottie Lockey. Just short of 95 at her death, she was a feminist, publisher, lesbian role model and author of eight books, including six mysteries featuring the first-ever fictional lesbian detective, a memoir tracing her flight from Poland to the UK and then to Canada, and Privilege of Sex, a collection of works by underappreciated women writing from 1830 to 1925. Privilege of Sex will be reissued in spring 2027. Eve loved camping, traveling and tending to her plants. But she adored Ottie, her wife of 47 years, even more. Fearless, Loyal. Wise. Funny. There won’t be another like her. Warm thank you to Clara Estanquiero, Faye Mishna, Myra Lefkowitz, Selena Goulding, Paulina Lyskawa, Madeleine Benjamin, Graham Ashby and Susan G. Cole for loving friendship and care. For funeral and shiva arrangements go to https://www.mountpleasantgroup.com. In lieu of flowers, donate to the Writers Union, Rise Up Feminist Archive, the Eybler Quartet, Tafelmusik or City Shul.
Eve Zaremba is the author of six mystery novels featuring lesbian private detective, Helen Keremos. Now 40 years after she arrived on the scene, Helen Keremos has returned in a graphic novel, Work for a Million—adaptation written by Amanda Deibert, illustrated by Selena Goulding and published by McClelland & Stewart. Her memoir, The Broad Side, Reflections on a Long Life, was published in 2015.
Active in the Women’s Liberation Movement in the seventies and eighties, Zaremba was a founding member of the Broadside collective which produced a monthly feminist paper in Toronto from 1979 to 1989. She has written articles and reviews in a number of other publications. In 1972, Zaremba selected and edited an early work of feminist non-fiction, The Privilege of Sex, A Century of Canadian Women (Anansi).
Born in Poland, Zaremba emigrated to Canada in 1952 after a stint in the United Kingdom; she graduated from the University of Toronto in 1963. Over the years Zaremba has made a living in advertising, marketing, real estate and publishing. While writing two of her novels she ran a used bookstore in Toronto. Zaremba is a long-standing member of The Writers Union of Canada (TWUC). She lives in Toronto, with her spouse Ottie Lockey, a filmmaker, arts consultant and coach.